Testimony Ends In Sexual Assault Trial, For Now

The state's prosecution of two Glastonbury men accused of sexually assaulting boys they adopted through the state Department of Children and Families took a significant hit when a prosecutor disclosed in court that a new claim of abuse by one of the victims did not stand up to a medical evaluation.

HARTFORD — The lawyer defending a former Glastonbury man on charges that he and his former husband abused boys they adopted through the state Department of Children and Families finished presenting his case Friday, but did not rest.

Michael Dwyer said he wanted to wait until he had a chance to review hundreds of pages of documents related to the case that have trickled into the courthouse from DCF and other agencies and organizations that have been involved in treatment of the nine boys Wirth and George Harasz adopted.

The case against Harasz is scheduled for trial next week, although it could be delayed as the Wirth trial continues starting Monday.

Because the documents are confidential, Judge Julia D. Dewey has had to review them to determine if they can be disclosed to the parties involved in the case. Dwyer then has to have a chance to review the documents Dewey finds relevant.

State prosecutors have to review the same documents to determine if they want to call any witnesses to rebut the witnesses Dwyer presented on behalf of Wirth.

Wirth opted to have Dewey hear the evidence, rather than a jury, and to have the judge render a verdict.

The final witness in the trial was a brother of the man accusing Wirth and Harasz of sexually and physically assaulting them.

The brother testified Friday that he did not witness the abuse described by his brothers earlier in the trial, when they testified for the state.

He said that he and his three brothers gave massages to Harasz, but that they were not sexual in nature. They massages, the brother testified, were a way of manipulating Harasz. He would often fall asleep during a massage and when he was half asleep would routinely say yes to requests to go out or for other privileges, the brother testified.